Western Railroad Discussion > BNSF Sioux City Subdivision Questions

Here's a few questions about the BNSF's Sioux City Sub that runs north from Ashland, NE:

1. Does this sub run all the way to Wilmar, MN, or just to Sioux City?

2. How are the crew districts set up over this sub? Do crews run between Lincoln and Wilmar, or do crew changes take place in Sioux City?

3. From railfanning this line over the weekend north of Fremont, I spotted a northbound coal load (railroad westbound) and a southbound empty coal train, both with DEEX cars. I thought DEEX cars belonged to Detroit Edison in Michigan, so if these were Detroit Edison trains, why wouldn't they run straight east on the Iowa mainline towards Chicago instead of north up towards Minnesota? One of the engine numbers was BNSF 9816, I believe. By the way, does anybody have an idea of which coal trains have been running regularly on the Sioux City sub?

The DEEX coal trains are bound for Midwest Energy in Superior, WI for loading onto boats for Great Lakes haulage. I believe that the Ashland-Sioux City and Sioux City-Willmar segments are 2 different subdivisions, but don't quote me on that.

The Detroit Edison trains go via Ashland, Willmar, Minneapolis and Hinckley to Superior Wisconsin where they are unloaded for ship loading. On occaision they are even rerouted east to Galesburg and then north via Savannah and LaCrosse to Superior. I don't know the ultimate destination for this coal but it sure racks up the miles (and days) to get there. That's railroading!

We should also note that while the trackage may be heading west, loaded coal is eastbound and the empties are westbound. This also applied to manifest; i.e. Willmar to Sioux City and Sioux City to Lincoln are westbound. Because of the general north-south alignment of this line, the railroad direction of the train is sometimes difficult to determine.

The answer to the rest of your question is teh Sioux City Sub runs from Ashland to Sioux City. Lincoln crews run to Sioux City and back, and Sioux City crews run north to Willmar and back. The line north of Sioux City is the Marshall Subdivision. That line was featured in two of our videos as seen on our web site.